Rheged is sure
to be a controversial choice in our series since some might contend, with
a fair degree of accuracy, that it is not a service station at all, but
a convention centre-cum-tourist attraction.

However, this palace is certainly signposted as ‘Services’
on the approach from Penrith. Although the sign may only refer to the
petrol station that has been tacked on the side of the place, that’s
good enough for us.

Named after the Brythonic kingdom of post-Roman Britain, Rheged has
the feel of an eco-friendly university campus, or the Dartford Town
stadium. It’s all exposed steel, glass walls. The roof is made
of grass and is the largest in Europe (who the hell measures these things?).
The liberal use of timber and granite hewn from local quarries provides
the finishing touches to this palace of discovery and wonderment.

Food is served in the restaurant, and there’s no slumming it
with the great unwashed at a long cafeteria queue either. Rheged proudly
boasts at-seat service; the food is roughly the same as that served
at Westmorland’s Tebay services, but better. The chips are beer-battered
slabs of fried potato and home-made pizzas that surpass anything Pizza
Express have ever produced.

Indeed,
it’s more a question of what this place doesn’t feature.
There’s a Cumbrian museum with a funky 3D map thing, a two-screen
cinema, a deli selling everything from locally produced Cumberland sausage
to bottled Sam Smiths ale and several shops selling hiking gear, books,
toys.

There’s a water feature so substantial they’ve had to stick
a ‘DANGER! DEEP WATER!’ warning on it – inside the
restaurant. There’s even a lift shaft disguised as a castle. This
place has absolutely everything.

Have
you got a particular favourite service station you’d like
to see feature on these pages? Then e-mail impsTALK with ‘YES!
I’VE PAID £58.99 FOR A DEEP FILL EGG AND BACON GINSTERS
SANDWICH TOO!’ in the subject line, and we’ll either
follow it up or ignore you and pretend your e-mail ended up in
our spam filter in ‘error’.